Automatic feeding device for cloth



@at EL, E949. J. DLNcsLR AUTOMATIC FEEDING DEVICE FOR CLOTH 2 Sheets-Sheet l Filed April 26, 1947 INM-wrak:

@ EL Eo J. DUNGLER AUTOMATIC FEEDING DEVICE FOR CLOTH Filed April 2e. 1947 `2 sheets-sheet z IN VEN TOR.

Patented Oct. 1l, 1949 UNITED STATES PATENT lOFFICE France May 24, 1939 Section 1, Public Law 690, August 8, 1946 Patent expires May 24, 1959 4 Claims. (Cl. 26-57) ThisA invention relates to automatic devices for introducing or feeding cloth or web in tenter frames or like machines.

It is one of the objects of this invention, to

provide an automatic feeding devicev which is operation of the frame an electric contact-maker is placed at the selvedge, said contact-maker further controlling said inlet rail through a speed reducing mechanism and a screw-and-nut transmission.

It has `neen recognized that although the electric feeding devices hitherto proposed provide desirable regularity and accuracy of guiding, as long as the feed is eected at low speed, their operation becomes irregular and they lose their accuracy as soon as the feeding operation is performed at high or even medium speeds; such devices thus become ineilicient and useless, in particular when applied to pin tenters wherein it is of utmost importance to maintain a regular and accurate guiding.

This defect is due to the fact that, owing to their inertia, the various rotary elements of the drive of each tenter frame inlet do not stop instantly when the contact-breaker actuated by the selvedge cuts oi the current which is supplied to the electric motor; the movement of the tenter frame inlet therefore only stops after a certain delay.

Endeavors have been made to overcome this inertia effect by means of a braking action which becomes elective at the exact instant when the circuit of the motor is broken; now, such braking action can only reduce the inertia of the mechanism to a certain extent, but is incapable of eliminating it completely.

Therefore, a furtherl purpose of the invention is to provide automatic feeds or feeding devices which are capable of operating correctly, even at highest feeding speeds (which may, at the present time, in some drying tenters exceed 100 meters per minute), and to this end, the invention has for one of its important objects the pro- Vision of coupling means interposed between the screw or other member effecting the movement of 'the tenter inlet and the rotary elements which receive their movement from the motor, which coupling means eiect at the required moment the mstant separation of the screw from the other elements of the transmission.

One embodiment of the invention is described hereinafter and illustrated diagrammatically, merely by way of example, in the accompanying drawing, in which:

Fig. 1 is a side-elevational view of an improved electric feeding device; and

Fig. 2 is a detail view, on a larger scale, showing the coupling of the feeding device according to the invention.

Fig. 3 is a wiring diagram employed in the electric device of Fig. 1.

It is, of course, understood that the drawing only indicates one part of the device since corresponding or similar parts thereof are provided at each selvedge.

Referring now to the drawing, there is designated by numeral I the movable inlet rail of a tenter frame in which each selvedge 2 of cloth I5a is Icontrolled by an electric feeler 3 ofl any known type.

According to Figs. 1 and 3 this feeler 3 has, for instance; a fork i6 in which is moved the selvedge 2 of the fabric 85a to be controlled.'

The fork I6 is secured to a contact lever Il pivoted at I8 and under action of a spring I9. The Contact lever cooperates with two xed contacts 20 and 2l for energizing the relays 22 or 23 from the three phase network 24. Each relay has two sets of contacts 25, 2S and 2l, 28, respectively, the purpose of which will be explained hereafter.

On screw-threaded rod or spindle d, there is mounted a nut 29, which is secured to the tenter inlet rail, the rotary movement of spindle producing a rectilinear movement of such nut, by which said rail may be moved outwardly or inwarlly following the direction of rotation of spindle .An electric motor 5 actuates by means of a belt 6 a pulley I- which is loosely mounted on the screwthreaded spindle On pulley 'I and between its spokes are arranged electro-magnets 8 cooperating with coupling means consisting of a soft iron ring 9 so as to attract it when they become energized; a soft iron ring 9 secured to ring Ill (made of nonmagnetic material), which in turn is connected in any appropriate manner to radial flexible blades Ii, the latter being retained on sleeve I2 at flange 3U thereof.l Sleeve I2 is attached to spindle 4 by means of key 3l.

When the electro-magnets 8 are deenergized, the springiness of the blades lliretracts the ring I so that there is no contact between the ironv ring 9 and the electro-magnets 8l.

If, on the contrary, the electro-magnets 8 will become energized, the iron ring or element 9 is attracted so that it lies against the electro-magnets 8 owing to the ilexibility of the blades II. Element 9 is thus held by the electro-magnets 8, whereby the pulley 'I is secured to the spindle 4.

On the hub of pulley 1, there is provided an insulating ring I3 supporting, as known per se, two rings I4 connected by wires 34 to the con'- tact sets 26 and 28 of the relays 22 and 23, re-

spectively. The rings I 4 are further connected by wires 35 to the electro-magnets 8 arranged in series or in parallel on pulley 'I.

Furthermore, a mechanical brake may be provided, equipped With a lever I5 which supports a brake shoe 36 at one end and is pivoted at 3l at the other end. The lever I5 is urged by a spring 38 so as to apply the brake shoe 36 constantly against the pulley l. This brake does not interfere with the normal Working of the device but reduces the duration of the rotation of pulley 'l and motor 5 after the interruption of the electric circuit of the latter.

The electro-magnets 8 are fed from a direct current source 39 which is connected to contact sets 26 and 28 of relays 22 and 23, respectively.

The device works as follows: As long as the selvedge 2 of the fabric I5a is correctly presented at the inlet of the tenter frame, the fork I6 is maintained in its neutral position and so is contact nger Il of the feeler 3. In this position, none of the relays 22 and 23 is energized, so that no current will be supplied either to motor 5 or to electro-magnets". Consequently, the mechanism remains inoperative.

When now the fabric deviates outwards or becomes larger, its selvedge 2 abuts against fork IB and urges the same to the left (Fig. 3) so as to apply nger I6 against contact 2l), thus energizing relay 22 which closes its contacts 25 and 26. The closing of contact set 25 causes a rotative movement of motor 5 and thus rotates pulley 'I in a direction as to move inlet rail outwardly. At the same time, the closing of the contact set 26 has energized electro-magnets 8 from the supply source 39 by means of wires 34, rings III and Wires 35. Consequently, the soft iron ring 9 is attracted and lies against electro-magnets 8, so that the sleeve I2 keyed to the spindle 4 is now driven by pulley l. Due to the rotation of spindle d, the nut 29 is advanced in such a way that the inlet rail I mounted thereupon is moved out- Wardly.

When, due to this outward movement of the rail I, the pressure exerted by the selvedge 2 on fork I6 diminishes, spring I9 retracts finger Il towards its neutral `position thus deenergizing the relays 22, Consequently, the current supply is cut oi from motor 5 and electro-magnets B. This produces stoppage of motor 5 and pulley l, the duration of the rotation by inertia being reduced by the brake mechanism I5, 35, 3'I, 38. At the same time, deenergizing of the electromagnets 8 uncouples pulley 'l from sleeve I2 as the springy blades II retract the soft iron ring 9 from the electro-magnets 8. Thus, the stoppage of spindle 4 and of the inlet rail is nearly instantaneous since their inertia is rather small and much smaller than that of the motor and the pulley.

If, on the contrary, the fabric deviates inwards or becomes narrower, the pressure of the selvedge on the fork I8 ceases thus permitting spring I9 to apply nger I'l against contact 2l. This produces energization of relays 23 which closes its contact sets 2l and 28. The closing of contacts 2l causes rotation of motor 5 in a direction opposed to that when fed by the contacts 25. As at the same time electro-magnets 8 are energized by contacts 28, pulley 'I is coupled to sleeve I2 and thus to spindle 4, the inlet rail I being thus moved inwardly. When due to this movement the contact is restored between the selvedge 2 and the fork IB, the finger I'I is brought back to its neutral position, thus cutting off the current from relays 23.

This produces the nearly instantaneous stoppage of the inlet rail, as shown before.

It is Well understood that a separate device of the kind shown i' provided for both of the selvedges of the fabric.

Of course, the invention is in no way limited to a particular embodiment and it is possible to imagine modications and improvements of details Without exceeding the scope of the invention.

It can thus be seen that there has been provided in accordance with this invention a feeding mechanism for supplying cloth to tenter Aframes and like machines having adjacent their inlets electric contact means for cooperation with the selvedge of said cloth and for regulating supply of current to a motor; controlling means for adjusting the distance between the tenter inlets, said controlling means including a threaded spindle, a member disposed for movement on said spindle and operatively connected with said tenter frame, a pulley in driving connection with said motor and loosely mounted on said spindle, electro-magnetic means carried by said pulley, coupling means including a softiron ring adapted for cooperation with said electro-magnetic means, said coupling means being xeclly connected with said spindle, whereby said pulley may be clutched through said coupling means with said spindle for eiectuating adjustment of said tenter inlets, and brake means responsive to interruption of current supply to said motor and for stopping rotation of said pulley.

Having thus described the invention, what is claimed as new and desired to be secured by Letters Patent, is:

1. In a feeding mechanism for supplying cloth to tenter frames and like machines having a motor and adjacent their movable inlets electric contact means for cooperation with the selvedge of said cloth and for regulating supply of current to said motor; controlling means for correspondingly adjusting a tenter inlet vin response to lateral deviations of said cloth as it is fed to the inlet, said controlling means including a threaded spindle, a member disposed for movement on said spindle and operatively connected With said tenter frame, a pulley in driving connection with said motor and loosely mounted on said spindle, electro-magnetic means carried by said pulley, and coupling means including a soft iron element adapted for cooperation with said electro-magnetic means, said element being carried by said spindle, whereby said pulley may be clutched throughsaid coupling means with said spindle for eiectuating adjustment of said tenter inlets.

2. In a feeding mechanism for supplying cloth to tenter frames and like machines provided with a motor and adjacent their movable inlets with electric contact means for cooperation with the selvedge of said cloth and for regulating supply of current to said motor; controlling means for 5, correspondingly adjusting a tenter inlet in response to lateral deviations of said cloth as it is fed to the inlet, a movable member operatively connected with said tenter frame, an element arranged for driving connection with said motor,l

electro-magnetic means carried by said element, and coupling means adapted for cooperation with said electro-magnetic means and operatively connected with said member for displacing the same to effectuate adjustment of the position of said tenter inlets.

3. In a feeding mechanism for supplying cloth to tenter frames and like machines having a motor and adjacent their movable inlets electric contact means for cooperation with the selvedge of said cloth and for regulating supply of current to said motor; controlling means for correspondingly adjusting a tenter inlet in response to lateral deviations of 'said cloth as it is fed to the inlet, said controlling means including a threaded spindle, a member disposed for movement on said spindle and operatively connected with said tenter frame, a pulley in driving connection with said motor and loosely mounted on said spindle, electro-magnetic means carried by said pulley, coupling means including a soft iron ring adapted for cooperation with said electro magnetic means, and means on the hub of said'pulley for distributing supply of electric current to said electro-magnetic means, said coupling means being xedly connected With said spindle, whereby said pulley may be clutched through said coupling means with said spindle for eiectuating adjustment of said tenter inlets.

4. In a feeding mechanism for supplying cloth to tenter frames and like machines having a motor and adjacent their movable electric contact means for cooperation with the selvedge of said cloth and for regulating supply of current to said motor; controlling means for correspondingly adjusting a tenter inlet in response to lateral deviations of said cloth as it is fed to the inlet, said controlling means including a threaded spindle, 'a member disposed for movement on said spindle and operatively connected with said tenter frame, a pulley in driving connection with said motor and loosely mounted on said spindle, electro-magnetic means carried by said pulley, coupling means including a soft iron ring adapted for cooperation with said electro magnetic means, said coupling means being fixedly connected with said spindle, whereby said pulley may be clutched through said coupling means with said spindle for effectuating adjustment of said tenter inlets, and brake means responsive to interruption of current supply to said motor and for stopping rotation of said pulley.

- JULIEN DUNGLER.

REFERENCES CITED The following references are of record in the file of this patent:

UNITED STATES PATENTS OTHER REFERENCES Electronics April 1934, pages 144, 146, 148. (Copy in Div. 21.) 

